UEFA bans player for life

The judgment bans the 31-year-old player from "football-related activity for life for breaching UEFA's principles of integrity and sportsmanship", the organisation said in an online statement.

The decision on appeal, which covers only football activities in Europe, went much further than a lower tribunal ruling in August that barred Sammut from the sport for 10 years.

Both the player and UEFA's disciplinary director had appealed against the original ruling, the statement read.

The match under investigation was a UEFA European Championship Group C qualifier in Oslo in June 2007, which Norway won 4-0.

The sport's world governing body, FIFA, is expected to consider extending the decision to a global ban, the UEFA statement continued, before adding that an appeal could be lodged against Monday's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

UEFA's appeals body meanwhile upheld the lower tribunal's ruling that there was not enough evidence against two other Maltese players, Kenneth Scicluna and Stephen Wellman, to take disciplinary action.